


show me your scars and i won't walk away

by worth_the_risk



Series: i could live by the light in your eyes. [2]
Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, Long-Term Relationship(s), M/M, Post-argument, Songfic, beyoncé wrecked my night last night so here we are, grown up men having grown up feelings about their grown up arguments
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-16
Updated: 2017-02-16
Packaged: 2018-09-24 20:04:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 989
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9783821
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/worth_the_risk/pseuds/worth_the_risk
Summary: “That sucked.” Eric’s hair fluttered against Jack’s lips.Eric chuckled, exhausted. “Yeah, yeah it did.”“Let’s never do that again.”





	

The knock on the bathroom door was almost too quiet for Eric to hear.

“Yes?” he murmured, low enough that his voice couldn't wobble.

“Can I come in?” Jack’s voice was soft, the same absence of air behind it as his own. Eric’s stomach twisted in guilt and his fingers itched to touch his boyfriend’s jaw, hairline, lips.

“Yeah,” he breathed, reaching up and turning the handle to emphasize that he wanted Jack to come in.

Jack’s shoulders were still curled inward, marking the outer edges of an invisible cage that he'd crafted around himself. As they’d fought, Eric had watched his normally imposing boyfriend become first larger, defending himself and shooting barbs at Eric. Then something had gone out of him, something both air and light, and the broad wall of his shoulders had crumbled in on itself as they both ran out of anger and began treading through the hurt hiding behind it.

He folded himself smaller still, settling onto the tile next to Eric and leaning back against the edge of the bathtub. Hesitating before giving into the heady draw, Eric let his head tip tentatively onto Jack’s shoulder. Jack’s breath hissed out from between his clenched teeth and he dropped his face into his boyfriend’s golden hair.

“That sucked.” Eric’s hair fluttered against Jack’s lips.

Eric chuckled, exhausted. “Yeah, yeah it did.”

“Let’s never do that again.” Jack gathered Eric’s hand up in his own and spread his fingers open, pressed reverent kisses to his palm.

“Honey, you know we can’t just agree to not fight. We’d been avoiding having that discussion for too long as it was and that’s what got us to that point.”

“That and missing each other.”

Eric nodded in agreement, closing his eyes and feeling Jack’s lips against the sensitive skin of his palm. “We couldn’t have had that conversation over the phone or Facetime.”

“...Conversation?” Jack looked at Eric, snark and tired sadness in his eyes.

“Oh, Jack.”

“That was half military engagement, half telenovela.”

“Rude.” The bit of mirth from the joke bloomed in his chest for a hopeful moment before the darkness that’d settled heavy in his stomach during their argument rose up and smothered it. He forced the words sprinting through his mind out of his mouth before he could talk himself out of it. “Are we going to be okay?”

“I want to be.” Jack kissed him and he whimpered into it, hands flying to cup Jack’s cheeks. His heart leapt forward, pulling him with it, and he half climbed into Jack’s lap with the force of the kiss. Jack gathered him against his chest, the awkwardness of the tumble of limbs they were in lost in the sudden need to breathe the same air.

Eric tilted his chin back and took a shaky breath. “Me, too.” He pulled his hand from Jack’s neck to brush away fresh tears. “How do we fix it?”

Jack shrugged. “We move forward. We do better tonight, and tomorrow. Next week.” Jack kissed his forehead. “Next year.”

Hearing Jack lay out a future for them like a roadmap he knew by heart eased the knot in Eric’s stomach. “Next year?” He blinked to clear his eyes, feeling the tears break and pitter-patter onto his face.

Jack pulled back a little to look Eric in the face. “And the year after that, and the one after that.” Eric buried his face in Jack’s neck, and snuggled closer when Jack scooped him the rest of the way into his lap. He wanted to ask Jack to promise but he knew that wasn’t fair.

“I’m scared.” His voice was small, quiet enough that it didn’t echo off the tile.

“Me too, Bits. Kinda comes with the territory, I think.”

Eric nodded and nuzzled his face against Jack’s shoulder, rubbing the rest of the tears into the worn fabric of his boyfriend’s shirt. “Can we go to bed?”

“‘Course, bud.” Jack braced himself with a hand on the edge of the tub and heaved the two of them off the floor. He paused to push the door open with his foot and kissed Eric’s neck. “Are you wanting to go straight to sleep?”

Eric froze a little, knowing what he wanted and not wanting to say it.

“Bits?”

He shook his head.

“Is that a no to talking or a no to sleeping?” Jack kissed his temple as he crossed the room and pulled back the comforter. He sat on Eric’s side of the bed, tucking his feet under the sheets and pulling them up around the both of them. “Talk to me, n’amour.”

“I need you to hold me for a while, if that’s okay,” Eric whispered shakily.

“Hey.” Jack twisted a little to catch Eric’s gaze. “Of course it’s okay.” He grabbed pillows from his side and stacked them up behind the two of them, leaning against them and tucking the comforter carefully in around them. “Hold you all night, if you need me to.”

He turned his face into his boyfriend’s chest and breathed in the smell of him, trying to settle in for the night. He still felt ill, felt achy and exhausted from crying and yelling. Suddenly, the realization that he didn’t want to be anywhere but exactly where he was hit him like a roundhouse kick. Even though he felt terrible and he was still upset about their argument, at himself and at Jack and at their situation, the warm contentment he always got from curling up in Jack’s arms was still there.

“I love you, Jack,” he said, voice breaking.

“I love you, Eric.” Eric could hear the promise he’d wanted earlier in Jack’s voice and the weight in his stomach tilted sideways. Smiling to himself, small and private, he closed his eyes and settled into the warmth moving from Jack into him where their bodies were pressed together. _Next year. And the year after that._

**Author's Note:**

> inspired by "sandcastles" by beyoncé


End file.
